Down they went, nearly two hours and 400 miles apart, a pair of strong-armed leaders hobbling off the field in obvious pain.

And by the time the Chicago Bears and St. Louis Rams had flown west and returned to their respective homes Sunday night, the immediate fates of their franchise quarterbacks were very much in flux -- and each organization was forced to confront the possibility of a suddenly uncertain future at the position.

And while it generally has been presumed that Cutler, whose contract expires after the 2013 season, will remain Chicago's quarterback in 2014 and beyond -- whether via the franchise tag or a lucrative, long-term contract -- there is a very real possibility that the Bears' powers that be (Trestman and general manager Phil Emery) will elect to set him free.

Yes, Cutler has a great arm and has done his best to adapt to Trestman's system -- his coach told me early in the season that the quarterback had "bought in completely," a statement corroborated by others close to the situation.

That said, some of the old, bad habits that dogged Cutler in past regimes, such as waiting too long to throw the ball and holding it too low as he stands in the pocket, have resurfaced at inopportune times. He had four turnovers in the Bears' first defeat of the season, a 40-32 setback to the Detroit Lions three weeks ago. In seven games, he's totaled seven interceptions and four fumbles.

Trestman, who was the Oakland Raiders' offensive coordinator during Rich Gannon's MVP season in 2002 and won a pair of Grey Cups in the Canadian Football League with Anthony Calvillo running the Montreal Alouettes' attack, might not place as much of a premium on arm strength as some of his peers.

"Think about it -- he had his greatest success with Rich Gannon, who was smart and moved well but wasn't anybody's idea of a big thrower," said one source familiar with the Bears' situation. "If you're him, do you want to spend $20 million a year on Cutler, who might not be the best fit, or do you want to find someone you can mold who's efficient? And if you think about how deep this (next) draft class might be, he can identify his guy and get him relatively cheap for the next few years."

I'm not saying this will happen, but the reasoning is sound. If Trestman can finesse a playoff berth despite Cutler's absence, it's tough to imagine the franchise extending a contract offer to the quarterback in the Matt Ryan/Joe Flacco/Tony Romo price range, or even close to it.

As for Bradford, the last of the No. 1 overall picks to land a massive deal before the advent of the rookie wage scale, the Rams are far more crushed by his injury than the Bears are by Cutler's.

In the short term, backup Kellen Clemens likely will be elevated to the starting role, a move that is generating the internal enthusiasm of two-a-day training camp practices in the heat and humidity. And there's no enticing alternative outside the organization, either.

Now that Bradford, whose current deal runs through 2015 and is due to pay him another $27 million, has been lost for the season, it's quite possible that Demoff, general manager Les Snead and Fisher will reassess that decision.

The Rams, who've stockpiled young talent since Fisher and Snead arrived before the 2012 season, will have plenty of ammo in the quarterback-rich 2014 draft. They'll have two first-round picks: their own and Washington's (a remnant of the blockbuster deal that brought Robert Griffin III to the nation's capital). It's possible both selections could be relatively high, especially if the Rams struggle in Bradford's absence and the Redskins (2-4) fail to mount a rally similar to the seven-game winning streak that closed their 2012 regular season.

As with the Bears, the Rams' power brokers might conclude that landing a talented quarterback in the draft is the best option. Under that scenario, Bradford likely would be cut, to save salary-cap space and allow the team to proceed in a different direction without undermining the new starter.

Granted, a lot can happen between now and September 2014. Yet, it's clear that the Bears and Rams are facing murkier futures at the sport's most important position than they were heading into the weekend, and there are a lot of wide-ranging decisions to be made in the coming months.

They'll also be forced to confront plenty of questions in the short term, which gives them something in common with us. Here are 32 more of those for your reading enjoyment, as we take our weekly trip from the penthouse to the outhouse:

4) Denver Broncos: Will Sunday night's emotional defeat at Lucas Oil Stadium go down as a changing of the guard -- or as the disappointment that propelled Peyton Manning to an even scarier level of offensive mastery?

29) Minnesota Vikings:When Christian Ponder declared, "I have to figure out what's best for me ... I don't know if that's staying here or going somewhere else," did it register the same sound as a tree falling in the middle of the forest?